The CHIPS Database: A Repository for Chemical Data in Archaeometallurgy of Iron

context_id	context_name	place_name	srid	longitude	latitude	centroid	context_type	edtf	points	key_periodo	key_periodo2	locality_id
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	TEXT	TEXT	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	NUMERIC	NUMERIC	BOOLEAN	TEXT	TEXT	GEOMETRY	TEXT	TEXT	INTEGERFOREIGN KEY
62	Boeng Kroam location 1 (BK1)	Boeng Kroam	4326	105.168	11.0619	true	locus	1400~/1500~	0101000020E6100000986E1283C04A5A40AB3E575BB11F2640	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr49ctv		238603
63	Boeng Kroam location 1 (BK2)	Boeng Kroam	4326	105.168	11.0619	true	locus	1450~/1750~	0101000020E6100000986E1283C04A5A40AB3E575BB11F2640	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr49ctv	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr478fd	238603
399	Chanoi 1	Chanoi	4326	4.78407	47.75319	true	locus	-0025~/0450~	0101000020E61000005019FF3EE32213404DD6A88768E04740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr4964n		71481
400	Chanoi 2	Chanoi	4326	4.78407	47.75319	true	locus	1316~/1648~	0101000020E61000005019FF3EE32213404DD6A88768E04740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr49ctv	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr478fd	71481
364	Chemin des Combes	Chemin des Combes	4326	6.36186	47.35265	true	locus	0542/0684	0101000020E610000018EC866D8B7219409A779CA223AD4740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr49bbg		75236
397	L’Abîme US 102	L’Abîme	4326	3.2669	47.4717	false	stratigraphic unit	1295/1401	0101000020E6100000516B9A779C220A40F8C264AA60BC4740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr49ctv		73943
398	L’Abîme US 104	L’Abîme	4326	3.2669	47.4717	false	stratigraphic unit	0066/0222	0101000020E6100000516B9A779C220A40F8C264AA60BC4740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr4847s		73943
76	Chêne Saint-Amand HMA	Chêne Saint-Amand	4326	4.9721	48.625	false	sequence	0700~/0900~	0101000020E610000033C4B12E6EE313400000000000504840	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr4scv9		62995
77	Chêne Saint-Amand MA	Chêne Saint-Amand	4326	4.9678	48.6267	false	sequence	1000~/1200~	0101000020E6100000744694F606DF13409C33A2B437504840	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr458g8		62995
1593	Chestnut Park	Chestnut Park	4326	-2.3711	51.6261	false	locus	0015?~/0200?~	0101000020E6100000645DDC4603F802C04703780B24D04940	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p0kh9ds8p8k	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p0kh9ds9nsj	43238
1490	Combe Tabeillon	Combe Tabeillon	4326	7.1563	47.3115	false	locus	1000?~/1300?~	0101000020E61000008E75711B0DA01C401D5A643BDFA74740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr458g8		339128
1492	Combe Tabeillon 1	Combe Tabeillon	4326	7.1374	47.302	false	locus		0101000020E6100000B1E1E995B28C1C402DB29DEFA7A64740			339128
1493	Combe Tabeillon 2	Combe Tabeillon	4326	7.1381	47.3019	false	locus	0900?~/1200?~	0101000020E6100000764F1E166A8D1C40CA54C1A8A4A64740	https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr4zc8c		339128

Table 2

View created from the ‘samples’ table, showing 11 sample examples.

sample_id	sample_name	context_id	typology_id	COMMENTS
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	TEXT	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	TEXT
6797	VG_1b	1744	24	Microlammellar hematite
6805	TN-2	1746	24	Lamellar/micaceous hematite with pyrite
6813	6997	1748	24	Massive goethite with calcite
6795	VIG_M	1742	24	Lamellar/micaceous hematite
6819	4526/b	1751	24	Hematite-bearing schist
6809	TN-9	1746	24	Micaceous hematite
6836	11007	1764	24	Micaceous hematite
6824	901	1756	24	hematite with calcite
6812	2914	1748	24	Brown–reddish massive goethite
6838	16259	1765	24	Fibrous-radiated hematite
6814	7231	1749	24	Micaceous hematite (Montomoli shaft)

Table 3

View created from the ‘typology’ table, showing 11 examples of types.

typology_id	process	context	material	category	subcategory	ark_frantic_uri
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT
161	Indirect	Experimental	Metal	Cast iron	NULL	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtTcvLDTNT86
190	Direct	Archaeological	Earth	Molten	NULL	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrt5bIL1UtwcT
15	Direct	Archaeological	Slag	Smithing	Hearth bottom	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtfvIQbnsSeS
16	Direct	Experimental	Slag	Smithing	Hearth bottom	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtfvIQbnsSeS
3	Direct	Archaeological	Slag	Smelting	NULL	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtzh0WTynBny
24	Unknown	Geological	Ore	Smelting	NULL	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrt5bIL1UtwcT
5	Direct	Archaeological	Slag	Smelting	Tap slag	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtzh0WTynBny
10	Direct	Experimental	Slag	Smelting	Slag block	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtzh0WTynBny
63	Direct	Archaeological	Earth	Baked clay	Lining	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtfx4s0yvSLj
69	Indirect	Archaeological	Slag	Smelting	Blast furnace slag	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtzh0WTynBny
62	Direct	Experimental	Earth	Baked clay	Tuyere	https://ark.frantiq.fr/ark:/26678/pcrtwJqetoWYz9

Table 4

View created from the ‘analyses’ table, showing 11 analyses examples. Only 4 out of the 97 fields related to chemical contents are displayed.

chips_id	sample_id	major_setup_id	trace_setup_id	Si	Fe	As	Zr
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	NUMERIC	NUMERIC	NUMERIC	NUMERIC
152	152	10	11	8.87	41.58	10.3	171.5
655	655	8	9	9.42	29.52	5.76	246
664	664	8	9	11.25	25.14	–1	208.1
665	665	8	9	8.3	32.83	2.09	180.5
672	672	8	9	9.06	28.83	117.7	125.9
725	725	8	9	8.5	42.79	3.32	220
884	884	8	9	7.7	30.13	167	114
1121	1121	4	7	11.71	42.86	11.26	998.75
1269	1269	4	7	8.27	56.37	4.31	15.78
1281	1281	4	7	16.57	37.79	0.39	36.13

Table 5

View created from the ‘literature’ table, showing 3 reference examples.

literature_id	authors	title	media	volume	issue	publication_year	pages	url	doi	publication_type
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT	INTEGER	INTEGER	INTEGER	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT	TEXT
6	Philippe Dillmann, Roland Schwab, Sylvain Bauvais, Michael Brauns, Alexandre Disser, Stéphanie Leroy, Guntram Gassmann, Philippe Fluzin	Circulation of iron products in the North-Alpine area during the end of the first Iron Age (6th-5th c. BC): A combination of chemical and isotopic approaches	Journal of Archaeological Science	87	NULL	2017	108–124	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440317301486#fig4	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.10.002	Article
8	Anne-Marie Desaulty	Apport des analyses chimiques multi technique à la compréhension du comportement des éléments traces dans les filières sidérurgiques anciennes.	NULL	NULL	NULL	2008	NULL	https://theses.hal.science/tel-00552060	NULL	Thesis
9	Jean Milot, Franck Poitrasson, Sandrine Baron, Marie-Pierre Coustures	Iron isotopes as a potential tool for ancient iron metals tracing	Journal of Archaeological Science	76	NULL	2016	NULL	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440316301480#bib61	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.10.003	Article

Table 6

View created from the ‘measurement errors’ table, showing 10 series of measurement error values, associated to the measurements shown in Table 4.

error_id	chips_id	silicon_error	iron_error	arsenic_error	zirconium_error
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY	INTEGER FOREIGN KEY	NUMERIC	NUMERIC	NUMERIC	NUMERIC
152	152	0.1774	4.158	NULL	NULL
655	655	0.942	0.5904	1.152	12.3
664	664	0.225	0.5028	NULL	10.405
665	665	0.83	0.6566	0.418	9.025
672	672	0.906	0.5766	5.885	6.295
725	725	0.85	0.8558	0.664	11
884	884	0.77	0.6026	8.35	5.7
1121	1121	0.2342	0.8572	NULL	NULL
1269	1269	0.1654	1.1274	NULL	NULL
1281	1281	0.3314	0.7558	NULL	NULL

Example of chemical data vizualisation for a sample coming from the ‘Noires Terres’ archaeological context (blue marker highlighted on the cartographic view).

Two views of the CHIPS dashboard (https://iramat-apps.cnrs.fr/dash/). Top: Landing page of the CHIPS dashboard, showing the spatial distribution of CHIPS interoperable (API-based) datasets. Bottom: A selection from the dataset by Grzegorz Żabiński et al. (2023), displayed as a Plotly line chart in log10 scale (https://iramat-apps.cnrs.fr/dash/dataset_gzabinski23). This dashboard page also provides access to the raw data from Grzegorz Żabiński et al. (2023) in JSON format (https://157.136.252.188:3000/dataset_gzabinski23), and allows filtering by site and sample.

Screenshot of the README.md page of the iRamat R package (https://github.com/iramat/iRamat), showing the output of the `chrono()` function. At the top, eighteen site time spans (in EDTF) are displayed from the Disser et al. (2017) CHIPS dataset, retrieved via the dataset’s raw data API (https://157.136.252.188:3000/dataset_adisser17). At the bottom, the PeriodO periods are shown from the authority “INRAP: Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives. PACTOLS chronology periods used in DOLIA data. 2021” (PeriodO – PACTOLS chronology; https://n2t.net/ark:/99152/p02chr4).

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/jcaa.324 | Journal eISSN: 2514-8362

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Language: English

Page range: 262 - 276

Submitted on: Jul 6, 2026

Accepted on: Jul 9, 2026

Published on: Sep 7, 2026

Published by: Ubiquity Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

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© 2026 Alexandre Disser, Thomas Huet, Sylvain Bauvais, Laurent Costa, Marco Leoni, Thomas Birch, Philippe Dillmann, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 9 (2026): Issue 1

The CHIPS Database: A Repository for Chemical Data in Archaeometallurgy of Iron

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Table 1

Table 2

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Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

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